The Walls Come Tumbling Down
by ProbablyMental
Summary: When the Enterprise is marooned near 2013 Earth, the only logical solution is to beam down to the planet's surface while the ship is being fixed. As Spock and James T. Kirk search for supplies to aid the repairs, they begin to learn things about each other that can only lead to more questions. Set after the events of Star Trek: Into Darkness. Rated M for language and adult content.
1. Wrecked

Captain James T. Kirk heard the impact before he felt it. Under his feet, the floor of the Enterprise grumbled with a growing intensity before the vibrations grew as well in a swelling crescendo and knocked he and the bridge crew from side to side like dolls. The young man opened his mouth to yell an order to Navigation, but yet another massive shock wave pushed air from his lungs as he slammed into the side of the captain's chair. Finally, he managed, "Mr. Sulu, you better have an explanation for this."

The man sitting (well, hanging on) at the Nav computer swiveled around and shook his head, "No, sir. All my readings were normal until now. It looks like we just pulled out of warp speed with no cause." Sulu turned back to the clear screen scattered with equations and readouts and the status of the ship. His eyebrows merged when he took a quick glance. "In fact, sir," he continued, "They're still reading as normal."

"Well obviously, we're getting some type of interference. Raise all shields just to be safe," Kirk replied in a frustrated tone. He pressed a button on his interface with the ship's comm and a two-tone whistle sounded throughout the Enterprise, getting everyone's attention from the medbay to engineering. "This the Captain speaking," Kirk announced in his best airline voice, "We're experiencing some…_slight_ turbulence. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened and you've located the nearest paper bag." Then, the man in the captain's seat looked to his First Officer, a collected Vulcan called Spock who had, until the sudden event, been bent down over a display screen of his own. "Can you make anything of this, Spock?" Another wave shook the bridge before he answered, "According to my calculations, it seems we've encountered a series of subspace temporal folds, Captain. Essentially, we're travelling through time. However a rare event, there have been reports that ships have passed through these 'time-folds' and resurfaced in the same time as during entry. We should be back to normal soon, with no long term effect."

At least, that's what his computers predicted. Because his computers were almost never right, however, another violent wave rocked the Enterprise and this time, the damage was not just a few bruises on the skin. A gasp arose from several of the crewmembers as a crack spread out crystalline fingers along one corner of the main panel of glass. Kirk's relaxed grin instantly darkened into a worried frown and he raised an eyebrow at his First Officer. "Is that so?"

The Vulcan set his dark eyes on the Captain and raised one of his own straight, black brows, "That was the logical prediction, Captain. The circumstance has obviously been altered. The computers are acting very fac-" As if on cue, one of the screens spat sparks at Spock when another wave rocked the ship, making him recoil in surprise. The bright white lights flickered violently, drawing everyone's attention from the cracked viewport to the ceiling. With a final shutter, the bridge went dark and the machines gave a tired whine before leaving the Enterprise eerily silent. They were now drifting in space. Everyone looked to the Captain for orders or even possibly for how they should react. Then, Spock's voice broke the silence, jarring even when the remark barely passed through human hearing. "_Quite_ fascinating."

"This time, Spock," Kirk responded, "I think I'd have to agree with you. Just this once." Spock nodded and stepped down from his station to stand beside the Captain's chair. The crew turned back to their stations like automatons, satisfied with the Captain's answer. Sulu and the Russian Ensign, Chekov, quietly started discussing how to get power back to the controls. If James T. Kirk's eyebrows could have been any closer together, he would have had a unibrow. He dug into his pocket and whipped out a communicator. "Scotty?" he asked the device. A static sound answered and Kirk tried again, "Mr. Scott?" That time, a man's voice rung with a Scottish tone from the comm. "Hello, Captain. Nice weather we're having, innit?"

Spock raised a pointed brow, "I do not understand. Weather requires an atmospheric disturbance and as we are in space-"

"Just wonderful, Scotty," Kirk interjected, giving Spock a look of disbelief. Sometimes he really couldn't understand how the Vulcan could take everything literally. "What's going on with my ship?"

"Aye, Captain. I'm working on it. Those quakes rattled her engines up good. I think we can have power back up soon if all goes well," Scotty replied. _But when do things ever go well?_ Kirk thought to himself. "Can you at least get the emergency power up? I'm sure there's a very annoyed doctor that would like to use the turbolift and…supervise." "Oh, sure thing, Captain. We were focused on getting the main power back. Guess I didn't activate it," came the reply. "Getting senile in your old age?" Kirk joked before adding the official, "Kirk out." Seconds later, a whirring sound vibrated through the bridge and dim lights like the somber glow of candles sent the ship back into the dark ages.

"Captain," Spock began, "I suggest we do a scan for nearby planets. If Mr. Scott is unable to repair the ship, then supplies may be necessary before we continue on our planned voyage. And may I remind you this is the third time the ship has been in need of repair since our departure three solar months ago?"

Kirk nodded wistfully. "So much for the newest, most advanced ship in the fleet," he muttered. "I think you're right about the scanning," he told his First Officer, giving him a friendly whack on the shoulder and carelessly letting his arm rest there, his blue eyes practically glowing in the dimmed light. "Captain, you using me as an armrest when your chair is in prime working condition is illogical," Spock said, turning his head away from Kirk. "If you could please cease-" "Oh, uh, sorry Spock," Kirk answered, shaking off the situation lightly, "You're just so damn comfortable." He gave the Vulcan's shoulder another whack to hide his embarrassment. "Go ahead and start up the searches with what power we have."

"Of course, Captain," Spock replied, striding back to his station. He could just barely see himself in pale glass of one of the viewing screens, and almost winced when he saw traces of green spread across his cheeks and the tips of his pointed ears. Since the ordeal with Khan, Kirk had become more of a friend, he had observed, but Spock still wasn't used to the familiarity. Thinking to himself, he noted that, however much the human half of him enjoyed the Captain's company, the Vulcan side shouted that showing friendship was an emotion and disgraceful in his species' terms.

There was then a hiss as the turbolift opened with none other than Doctor McCoy inside, looking very shaken up at the thought of drifting in space. Spock guessed that Captain Kirk really did know his friend to a T. The doctor casually made his way over to Kirk, hands clamped behind his back, and leaned up against side of the captain's chair. "What's goin' on?" he asked. As Kirk explained the best he could what little the crew knew about the situation, Spock wrestled with one of his station's screens to pick up signals from other planets. The method was tried and true, tested for years with positive results, so he was a little more than intrigued when a familiar arrangement of planets appeared on the screen. Sol and her gaggle of orbiting children blinked onto the viewer, the nearest of which was Earth itself, when the Enterprise had before been light-years away. "Captain?" Spock called for Kirk's attention. "It seems the readout was more incorrect that I had originally predicted. We have not just passed through the dimension of time, but through space as well. The Enterprise is now positioned exactly 1.62 light-years away from Earth. Also, based on how faulty the equipment has been in this situation, it would not be unwise to hypothesize that the ship has rode the temporal folds to another _time_ as well as place than where we previously were before."

Kirk couldn't believe his First Officer at first, and then the memories of an older Spock flooded his mind; one that held onto the hope that Kirk would recognize him by a simple phrase, uttered at first in a parallel universe. But things were far from parallel now what with…everything. Drawing up from the drowning thoughts, the starship captain replied, "Well, we certainly couldn't rule it out, Spock, after the ordeal with your elderly buddy." Then, he tore away from his first officer's wordless reaction and directed an order at Navigation, "Mr. Sulu, can you put us in an orbit around Earth?" "Yes, sir," the man answered, and his hands moved over the controls in a rapid flash of movement. "Manuvering the Enterprise into orbit around Earth," he said. Kirk then focused on Communications, "Lieutenant Uhura, can you scan for frequencies originating on Earth?"

"Of course, Captain," the woman affirmed, already tapping out a string of commands

on an interface in front of her. She pushed a silver device into her ear, listening for incoming waves of sound escaping from the planet's surface. After a moment, she frowned, "I'm getting readings from Earth, sir, but not on any regulation wavelengths. In fact, I'm not reading anything from Starfleet at all. It's just picking up…Well, the old AM/FM radio signals used during the early 2000's." Kirk was about to speak, but a beeping on his comm drew his attention. "Kirk here," he acknowledged. On the other end, a hissing from the engine room provided background noise behind Scotty's voice, "It's Scotty, Captain. I've got some good news and some bad news, sir, but I'm afraid the good news is quite short-lived." "Well, what is it, Mr. Scott? Are we getting back to full power or not?" "That's the thing, Captain. I can get her back to full for a while, but we'll be dead in the water in a day, maybe two if can keep her going."


	2. Signs of Damage

Kirk recoiled like he had been punched straight in the stomach, a sick feeling accompanying it. He ran a hand through his blond hair, the untidy mop making him look out of place in the situation that only seemed to rapidly grow more and more grim.

"Alright, Scotty. I'll be in the engine room in a minute. Kirk out." He shut the comm forcefully in his fist and motioned to Spock and Bones. "Come on. I need to check this out myself." He jumped up from the captain's chair, his right- and left-hand men in tow. They stepped into the turbolift, the machine moving painfully slow on it's low-power setting.

"So you really think we time-traveled?" Kirk asked Spock. The Vulcan nodded, "It seems plausible, but I could not be certain until direct evaluation of the planet's surface."

"Dammit, Jim," McCoy spoke up. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Come on, Bones! I would be jumping up and down right now if my ship weren't halfway to hell. Depending on what Uhura picks up, we might actually have traveled _through time._"

"All I'm saying is that if we end up driftin' until our air supply runs out, I'm blaming you," the grouchy doctor said, poking a finger at his friend.

"Dr. McCoy, our supply might last a sufficient amount of time if you were to cease using it so profoundly," Spock jested, and when Kirk burst out a laugh, the captain thought he saw the ghost of a smirk on the Vulcan's face. He slung his arms around his two best friends and grinned, "Come on, you two. Lighten up!"

Bones rolled his eyes and shoved Jim off, "I will, as soon as it _does _lighten up in here." And then there was light, as the turbolift doors opened into the steaming, hissing engine rooms. And then there wasn't, Spock noticed, as Jim Kirk's lopsided grin disappeared as quickly as the doors opened. Spock noticed the light in his eyes dim and harden as he gazed quickly around. Bones noticed his friend's reaction, too, and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, kid," he prompted him quietly, in a tone reserved for patients, as if the steady-handed doctor was afraid to break him. Jim shook his head like he was clearing water from his ears and started forward.

"S-Sorry," the usually unflappable captain said, "I, uh…" He turned to face his two friends and scratched his ear absentmindedly, avoiding their gaze. He was a strong guy, one that didn't like showing any sign of weakness, and Bones and Spock could see the frustration in his eyes. The Vulcan was at an awkward position, as well, remembering the emotional outburst that had occurred in the middle of the maze of inner workings that Scotty and the other engineering crewmembers called home. "Captain," Spock started, keeping his eyes off Jim, "We had better see what Mr. Scott has planned to keep our air supply from being depleted." As McCoy watched the tension between the two, he couldn't help but thinking, _jeez, so this is what the third wheel feels like. _Jim cleared his throat, "Yeah, let's get to it before we drop out of orbit."

The three of them strode around consoles and pipes, Spock and Bones flanking either side of the captain, until they found Scotty on his back underneath a particularly large piece of equipment. He was muttering softly to the ship as he worked and Jim caught something along the lines of, "Come on, my girl. It was just a wee subspace storm is all. Let's get working again, sweetheart."

Jim looked at Bones, his familiar smirk slowly returning. Although the doctor tried to hide his amused smile with an awkward fidget, his eyes shone and his shoulders slightly shook with laughter. Only Spock kept a steady gaze, although his ever-active brow launched itself into his bangs. Finally, Jim cleared his throat loudly, startling the engineer into slamming his head on the equipment above him.

"God bloodly dammit!" he cursed, shuffling out from under the steel machinery and joining his crewmates. Scotty straightened when he saw the captain and tried to dust off his uniform, although he just smeared more black grease over the red fabric.

"Eh, sorry, Captain. Didn't know it was you," he apologized. "Never mind that, Scotty," Jim brushed the comment off with a smile, "We have bigger problems." Meanwhile, Spock had been messing with his tablet, the clear piece of technology used by some of the officers so they could work while walking – in other words, the perfect devise for the workaholic Vulcan.

"It seems we do, Captain," he interrupted. "Not only will we run out of air in approximately 2.1 solar weeks with limited power, but Uhura has recorded some of the frequencies from Earth and directed them to me. They all have one thing in common, a reference to the date. It is currently the 17th of January, 2013 on Earth's North American continent. We have traveled through time after all."

"Wonderful," Bones muttered, crossing his arms. Jim took a deep breath and exhaled deliberately, turning what he had just heard through his head. If they really had traveled through space and time, that made obtaining supplies very difficult, maybe even impossible. He thought back to his training at the academy about the history of space travel and flight. During the early 2010's, the primary transportation into space had been flimsy shuttles; they had no shields or weapons and were prone to malfunctions, some even exploding during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Starfleet hadn't existed yet, but NASA and other international programs did. He also remembered the early 21st century as a time when Man was truly inspired to seek out life on other planets, with it's Mars rover agenda and finally the finding of bacteria in the ice, which led to further exploration. Eventually, that led to missions like his, bent on seeking out new life and new civilizations and the whole deal. And then there was the fact that they had no idea how to get back to their own time. Yeah, they sure did have some big problems.

"Captain?" Spock prompted, drawing Jim out of his thoughts. "Any thoughts?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. We'll have to notify the crew about our current situation, God knows we'll need everyone's cooperation," he replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Will someone just tell me what the hell is going on here?" Scotty asked, as he hadn't been informed either.

"Those interferences were, as Spock described, a type of temporal fold, or warping of the space-time continuum," Jim explained. "We went into something like a wormhole and came out in apparently another time and place. 1.62 light-years from Earth."

Scotty placed his hands on his hips, "Well, when we hit them, they must have done something to the power systems. I've been all through the engines and a plethora of wires and key parts of our maneuvering systems have been dislodged and disconnected. It'll take at least a couple weeks to just reconnect everything and we don't have the supplies to replace some of the damaged hardware. Then you have the leak of energy that's happening as we speak. We'll need to let 'er charge back up again, Captain, and don't get me started on how long it will take to just flush the warp core of radiation to fix the components there as well! We'll run out of breathable air before we get everything done."

Jim had been taking note of everything wrong with the ship as Scotty ranted, letting the engineer list off his massive to-do list. But he felt his chest tighten up when Scott mentioned the warp core and both Spock and Bones stiffened, waiting for their friend's reaction to the problem.

"Y-you'd better go, uh, get on that th-then, Mr. Scott," he faltered. The man looked up at Jim, a shocked look of realization growing on his face.

"Capt- Jim, I didn't- I mean, I'm sorry. I-," he stuttered, placing a hand on Jim's shoulder and remembered the moment he had to watch the light drain from his captain's eyes like it had the second he mentioned the warp core.

"It's alright, Scotty," Jim managed, although his heart was still beating from his throat, "_I'm _alright. Got a medal, bought a t-shirt. You're not going to offend me by mentioning the warp core." _But you might just kill me, _he thought, forcing the panic in him to subside and the shivers running through his veins to weaken.

"Good," Scotty nodded, letting his arm fall from Jim's shoulder. "Because it's now a part of the problem." He picked up his own tablet from the ground where he had left it and started going through data, murmuring to himself, "So I'll to get McCandler and Jameson to start working on…"

"We'll leave you to your work then, Scotty," Jim said, always amused at his friend's dedication and commitment to his job.

"Alrighty, then, Captain," Scott replied absentmindedly, still focused on the piece of glass in his hand. Spock, Bones and Jim left him to his work and headed back toward the turbolift.

"We've sure gotten ourselves into a heap of shit," Bones told Jim. "Even if we can fix the ship, we don't know how to get back to our own time."

"I know," Jim confirmed, crestfallen. "Do you have any ideas, Spock?"

The Vulcan shook his head, "Not at the moment, but with more time and more data, perhaps." A million thoughts were racing through Jim's head: how to fix the ship, how to keep the ship from running out of air, how to get materials for fixing the ship, how to keep his crew from panicking, how to get back to the right time. The list went on and on. As they stepped into the turbolift, though, he had a sudden idea.

"Spock!" he exclaimed, "What do you think would happen if we could beam, let's say, half the crew down to the Earth's surface, at least until the repairs aboard the ship are finished?" The Vulcan knit his eyebrows together, thinking over the statistics. "I'd say that, due to consistent causal loops, none of the crew would alter history in any way, Captain. As for the air supply, it would then last 4.2 solar weeks but I would not know if we could beam 214 people down to the surface on the power supply that we have."

"If it gives Scotty the time to fix the ship, then I'm all for it," Jim said, digging his comm out of his pants pocket. He flipped open the communicator and set it contact Scott. When the engineer answered, he inquired about the beaming down.

"Well, Captain, it would take a few days longer to power the ship back up, but it's doable," Scotty replied. "

Good. I'll let you know when we're ready to start having people beam down. Kirk out." Shoving the comm back into his pocket, Jim turned to his two friends, "Well, at least we're getting somewhere."

"Delightful," Bones started, "I'll be in the medbay if you need me. Some of the equipment started to malfunction after the emergency power kicked on. I need to see that it's back to working order." The turbolift doors opened on the medbay deck and Bones stepped out. He watched Spock and Jim as the doors closed again and headed back to his station. Back in the elevator, the two remaining officers stood in silence until Spock asked, "Did you mean to have us beam down to the surface as well, Captain?"

Jim nodded, "Of course. Who else is going to keep an eye on the crew? Plus, think about all the cool stuff to see down there, Spock. I think the Statue of Liberty was still standing in 2013. Oh, and I think they still had polar bears everywhere, too! And all the vehicles moved on the ground."

"I _do_ believe it would be an interesting experience," Spock agreed. Suddenly, Jim's expression changed from amusement to anger. His hands curled into tight fists and he looked up at his first officer in annoyance.

"You know, Spock, you could be a little more enthusiastic sometimes."

"Sorry, Capt-," Spock started, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

Kirk interjected, "You're a robot, aren't you? You just go along with everything without a single thought of your own!" The doors of the turbolift opened then and the two stepped out into a white hallway, Jim still persisting in his unusual attack and Spock growing continually more confused.

"Do you even feel anything?!" he yelled as two Yeomen shuffled past, a look of pity thrown to both Spock and the captain.

"Captain," Spock said again, a little louder than before, but Jim couldn't hear him. He kicked the wall and started another useless attack at the Vulcan.

"I bet you don't! I think you're just here to torment me, make my life hell!"

"Captain," Spock tried again and once again he was ignored.

"You know what? I'm glad Vulcan was destroyed. That means fewer analytical, snide, cocky assholes in the universe!"

On the verge of showing just exactly how deep his friend's words were cutting, Spock grabbed the captain's arms and yelled in a tone almost never used, "Jim!" Finally, awareness grew on the captain's face, an awareness of what exactly he had said to his friend.

"Spock? I-" he asked in a broken voice, searching the man's face for forgiveness. When Spock looked at him knowingly, Jim slumped to the ground and buried his head in his knees. Spock almost thought he was unconscious, but when he kneeled down to his friend's level, he could see his shoulders shaking ever so slightly.

"I'm sorry, Spock," the captain's muffled voice breathed, "Didn't mean it."

"I know," the Vulcan replied quietly. "Would you like me to call Dr. McCoy to aid you?"

"No, no. He's dealt with me enough," Jim replied. His voice muffled by his legs, he sighed through broken sobs, "I'm done, Spock. I shouldn't be here. Nobody looks at me the same way anymore." Spock opened his mouth to reply, offer a logical solution, but none was found. Instead, he grasped Jim's shoulders again and pulled his friend into a hug. Jim held fast to the blue science officer's shirt and continued his muffled sobs while Spock squeezed his eyes shut and tried to expel the welling emotions inside himself. He held onto his friend, thinking that perhaps he could protect him. But knew what Jim was going through wouldn't stop, persist in episodes lasting his whole life, a side effect of being brought back to life with a psycho's blood.

"I shouldn't be here," Jim repeated, and Spock drew away, looking the captain straight in the eye.

"I do not know what the crew would do without you, Captain," he said, and then heaved Jim up onto his feet. He waited for another officer to pass by, and then Jim answered, "They'd have you to lead them."

Spock shook his head, unable to think of the proper thing to say. Several immeasurable seconds passed before he spoke and Jim used them to study the Vulcan. A mix of strange features played on his face, emotional traces that were rare to touch Spock. His dark brown eyes were downcast and his jaw set, as if he was struggling to keep his mouth from speaking. Every crag and crevice was conflicted. Finally, he spoke with a quiet yet assured tone, "Negative. It would be impossible to serve in your place."

As Jim tried to reply, he added, "Impossible because I do not know what I would do without you as my captain. Or my friend."

Taken aback, Jim tried to speak, but Spock stopped him, taking a step backwards, "Now if you'll excuse me, Captain, I will retire to my quarters to meditate. Hopefully I will be able to think of a way to get us back to our normal time and place. I trust you are now capable of going to the bridge."

With that, he turned on his heel and began to walk down the corridor. "Spock, wait!" the captain called, but Spock continued to leave, disappearing around a corner while Jim cursed himself for being so vulnerable.


End file.
